Rayagada: The aim of the Andhra Pradesh government to create a sense of bitterness among the local populace staying in districts of Odisha close to the border continues.
Sources said that officials of the neighbouring state are coming up with new ideas to woo the residents of the bordering districts in an effort to gain control over villages and land.
The latest effort has been to attract Telugu-speaking children living in the villages of Rayagada district close to the border. The AP government is trying to lure them to state-run schools promising them with the best of facilities.
However, this has happened only because of the failure of the Odisha government to provide study materials written in Telugu to students on time. Rayagada has a sizeable amount of Telugu-speaking population, more than half of the populace living in the district.
Telugu- speaking children study in local schools along with their Odia counterparts. Realising the importance of Telugu, the Odisha government had established bilingual mode of study in this district.
Teachers fluent in Telugu were also appointed in the schools. However, in the last few years, the Odisha government has fallen short as it has failed to provide the Teluguspeaking students books and study materials on time.
This has sparked resentment among the guardians of Teluguspeaking children. Left with no option, some of them are either spending more and admitting their wards in English medium schools or sending them to Telugu schools in Andhra Pradesh on the fringes of the district.
Sources said that the Odisha government has set up 11 bilingual schools only in Rayagada block of the district. A total of 451 Telugu-speaking children are taught by teachers who speak the same language.
Sources however, pointed out that the lack of teachers who speak Telugu is also harming the plans of the Odisha government. They said that they don’t remember the last time when a teacher who speaks the language was appointed in any of these schools.
Sources informed that the Gopabandhu Upper Primary (UP) School in Rayagada block has 62 Telugu-speaking children but only two teachers. A similar situation prevails in the Ex-Board UP School which has 68 Telugu students, but again only two teachers.
In Jagili Sahi Primary School there are 25 Telugu students, but not a single teacher. There is also an acute shortage of teachers for Telugu students at the RACWC Primary School, Gopabandhu Bilingual HS and Amlabhata UP School.
The local Telugu Language Forum along with other outfits has drawn the attention of district and block education officers regarding the shortage of Telugu-speaking teachers. However, their concerns are yet to be addressed.
When contacted, DEO Purna Chandra Bariha said that he has informed the concerned departments of the state government regarding the shortage of Teluguspeaking teachers.
PNN